Overview

We've known for decades that climate change is an existential crisis. For just as long, we've seen the complete failure of our institutions to rise to the challenge. Governments have struggled to meet even modest goals. Fossil fuel interests maintain a stranglehold on political and economic power. Even though we have seen growing concern from everyday people, civil society has succeeded only in pressuring decision makers to adopt watered-down policies. All the while, the climate crisis worsens. Is there any hope of achieving the systemic change we need? Dana R. Fisher argues that there is a realistic path forward for climate action-but only through mass mobilization that responds to the growing severity and frequency of disastrous events. She assesses the current state of affairs and shows why public policy and private-sector efforts have been ineffective. Spurred by this lack of progress, climate activism has become increasingly confrontational. Fisher examines the radical flank of the climate movement: its emergence and growth, its use of direct action, and how it might evolve as the climate crisis worsens. She considers when and how activism is most successful, identifying the importance of creating community, capitalizing on shocking moments, and cultivating resilience. Clear-eyed yet optimistic, Saving Ourselves offers timely insights on how social movements can take power back from deeply entrenched interests and open windows of opportunity for transformative climate action.

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Reviews

There's a growing number of books addressing the climate crisis and we now have a good technical understanding of what we have to do, as a society, to avoid the worst impacts. But there has been much less focus on the—more urgent—question of how to make the required changes happen. Fisher's illuminating and insightful book helps fill this critical gap in our knowledge, and is a must-read for anyone with an interest in a safe future. -- Charlie Gardner, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent Few questions could be more important than how to quickly build an effective resistance to the fossil fuel industry; this volume offers some vital clues and insights, and will be a help to many activists! -- Bill McKibben, author of <i>The End of Nature</i>

In a crowded landscape of books about climate change, this one stands out by asking two key questions: Have we made enough progress? And what should we do going forward? The answer to the first question is clearly no. Despite three decades of climate negotiations, both the US and the world are far behind where we need to be on climate action, and going forward, we need to be much more organized. Taking a lesson from the history of the civil rights movement, Fisher suggests that we can create a stronger climate movement by building on existing community structures—such as churches and labor unions—and taking advantage of the climate shocks that are already occurring with increasing frequency to channel moral outrage into meaningful action. An important, original, and thought-provoking book. -- Naomi Oreskes, coauthor of <i>The Big Myth: How American Business Taught Us to Loathe Government and Love the Free Market</i> Few questions could be more important than how to quickly build an effective resistance to the fossil fuel industry; this volume offers some vital clues and insights, and will be a help to many activists! -- Bill McKibben, author of <i>The End of Nature</i> Saving Ourselves is about the great awakening that is happening right now to the risks we face on a rapidly warming planet. Read it and you will understand the history of the climate fight, the forces that are shaping it today, and the challenges the movement will confront as it grows in size and urgency. Saving Ourselves will inspire you take to the streets and fight for a better world. -- Jeff Goodell, author of The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet There's a growing number of books addressing the climate crisis and we now have a good technical understanding of what we have to do, as a society, to avoid the worst impacts. But there has been much less focus on the—more urgent—question of how to make the required changes happen. Fisher's illuminating and insightful book helps fill this critical gap in our knowledge, and is a must-read for anyone with an interest in a safe future. -- Charlie Gardner, Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent

Author Information

Dana R. Fisher is the director of the Center for Environment, Community, and Equity and a professor in the School of International Service at American University. Her books include Activism Inc.: How the Outsourcing of Grassroots Campaigns Is Strangling Progressive Politics in America (2006) and American Resistance: From the Women’s March to the Blue Wave (Columbia, 2019).

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